The Poetess of Ancon Hill

Amelia Denis de Icaza (1836-1911) is the first Panamanian poetess to publish her poems in her native country.  She is considered one of the best romantic poetess deeply in love with her country.  Her nationalistic and nostalgic poem, Al Cerro Ancón, influenced several nationalistic movements which decades later led to the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977.  This highly political poem reflects her anger for the creation of the Panama Canal Zone by the United States in 1904. Her contribution to regain this narrow strip of land is highly recognized by all Panamanians, as well as the patriotic poems of Demetrio Korsi (1899-1957) .

Other poems by Amelia Denis de Icaza are:  Patria, Hojas Secas, Amor de Madre, A la Muerte de Victoriano Lorenzo.  She was the daughter of a French father and a Panamanian mother.  She lived for almost two decades in Guatemala where she worked as journalist for several newspapers under the name of Elena.  For personal reasons she had to move to Nicaragua in 1894, where she lived until her death in 1911.

Due to her passion for Ancon Hill, the Panama government built a statue in her memory on top of this hill which oversees Panama City.  Below are several pictures of this memorial on the hill she loved so much.

Snapshot of a statue of Amelia Denis de Icaza in a small park on top of Cerro Ancón in Panama City, Panama. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

A close-up picture of the statue of Amelia Denis de Icaza in a small park on top of Ancon Hill in Panama City, Panama. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Snapshot of the memorial of Amelia Denis de Icaza on Ancon Hill. The poem on the bottom of the picture, "Oda Inflexible", was authored by another Panamanian nationalistic poet, Demetrio Korsi. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.